Google Core Update Jan 2020
Monitoring Analytics
We spend quite a lot of time looking at Google Analytics, and can normally spot when the has been changes to the major search engines.
They are always tinkering and tweaking, but about every 3 to 6 months they release a big one.
When this happens we normally head over to one of the SEO sites to see if there has been any impact. So when Moz released this a few weeks later we thought it would be a good idea to share it, and the analysis that they did.
Natural Language and BERT
It looks like it was a content driven update, and we know that they have been working on natural query language updates, this is basically the improved use of joining words in the search box.
What is BERT?
BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, and is an open source project by Google. They have stated that BERT helps better understand the nuances and context of words in searches and better match those queries with more relevant results.
Google Search Console
First of all, don't panic! In part of our article on Search Engine Optimisation, we discussed the use of long tail key words and keeping content natural, these subjects have just become even more important.
If you think you have taken a hit, then double check your analytics from mid January to confirm. It can be a bit hard to spot the changes as most people get a Christmas/New Year except retailers.
We've shared a snippet of our Google Search Console, if you don't have it then you really should sign up, or get your friendly web developer to ensure you are.
Analysing the data
Not everyone would of been hit negatively, and across our clients we have seen a rise in the number of visits and impressions. What has also been interesting is that all of them have been an expansion of the keywords they get picked up on rather than an increase in the number of impressions over the same keywords.
As you can see, we took a big hit around Christmas where a lot of people were off of work and therefore not looking at our blog. Early January then went back to normal for two weeks and then for the last three weeks we have made impressions in almost double the searches.
There is a great filter available on the data, and using combinations query and pages in the data below the graph give you a good idea of what pages are getting hit by particular searches.
Optimise your sites
Now is a good time to go and have a quick check of your site if you think you have been affected.
We've written an article about optimising your web sites, with easy wins in both content and technical aspects, so head over there and see if there is anything that can be done for yours.
If you would like some friendly advice, then feel free to use the contact us form and we will get back to you.
